Musings From A Rolling Eyed Turtle

RESOLUTION :   the purpose or course decided upon; constancy of purpose; determination. As we head into a New Year, perhaps it’s time for some of those New Year’s resolutions.   Maybe it’s the typical ones that we all know and perhaps have even attempted; diets, exercise programs, kick the bad habits.   Whether it’s the desire to improve or change or overcome, New Year’s resolutions can be good.   But how do we start and what should we really focus on? Since resolution starts with the letter “R”, I thought I’d start with reflecting on some “R”   words…. Some of God’s “R’s”: “In Him (Christ) we have REDEMPTION through His blood, the forgiveness of sins…” (Ephesians 1:7) “All this is from God, who RECONCILED us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.” (2 Corinthians 5:18) “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.   According to His great mercy, He has caused us to be born again to a li...

Are you properly positioned for Christmas? Do you: Have your shopping done? Have your Christmas decorations up? Have a really beautiful Christmas tree? Have family and friends joining you to celebrate Christmas? Think you are going to get that special gift or gifts? Those certainly could be some indicators.   But I would maintain that being properly positioned for Christmas is all in the knees.   In fact, the lyrics from some Christmas carols help me out on this: O Holy Night Fall on your knees O hear the angels' voices O night divine O night when Christ was born. Angels We Have Heard on High Come to Bethlehem and see Him whose birth the angels sing, Come, adore on bended knee, Christ the Lord, the newborn King. Helping me out also are the wise men:   “So they went into the house and saw the little child with his mother Mary. And they fell on their knees and worshipped him.   Then they opened their treasures an...

What does your soul feel?   Joy?   Happiness?   Sadness?   Discouragement? Perhaps it depends on the circumstances! Perhaps it depends on the moment! What if it feels the heaviness of failures, one after the other? What if your soul seems to be wasting away, longing for something better? What if your soul feels the burden of sin? The words of a familiar Christmas carol caught my attention, perhaps you could say they resonated with my soul! The carol describes the condition of the world, encompassing the condition of each soul and it is brutally honest, almost seemingly defying the joy of the season:   “long lay the world in sin and error pining”. But it also points to something better:   “A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices, for yonder breaks a new and glorious morn”. What happened?   How could sin and error pining change to a thrill of hope and a new and glorious morn? The carol gives the clear answer: ...

Cheryl and I were recently asked to do some pre-marital counseling for a young couple we know.   We were honored that they would consider us a resource for the important preparations for their upcoming marriage.   We also admit to feeling very inadequate. As we met with them for the first time, we tried to be honest and transparent.   But, in being honest and transparent, it started dredging up some sludge.   What? By definition, sludge is a deposit of ooze at the bottom of a body of water. Also, by definition, to dredge is to remove ooze from the bottom of a body of water. Like sludge that has built up over time at the bottom of a dark, murky body of water, the memories of our mistakes, our failures and our regrets are often out of sight and mostly, but not entirely, out of mind. Then something happens or something is said and the sludge gets dredged up.   In this case, our honesty and transparency started the dredging. But wait, you might...

My daughter lives in Peru . My sister lives in Sweden . My dad, in some of the later years of his life, lived in Saudi Arabia and also in Ecuador . I live in the United States . Which is better?   Take your pick!   It really doesn’t matter that much because none compare to a “better country”. So where is this “better country”?   You won’t find it on an atlas or a map or a world globe but I’ll give you a clue, it’s mentioned in Hebrews 11. Chapter 11 of Hebrews, as you may recall, is the “Hall of Fame” of faith.   These “Hall of Famers” considered themselves strangers and exiles on earth.   They made it clear that their desire was for a better country. (Heb 11:15) This “better country” even has a very special city.   Abraham and his family were nomadic and they lived in tents.   These tents were even pitched in the Promised Land.   Yet for Abraham, that was not what mattered.   He looked forward to a city that ha...